Alicia Keys' iPhone tweet and the time we helped Steve Jobs show her how to use iTunes

What ever possessed Blackberry (aka RIM) to think that giving Alicia Keys the role of 'Global Creative Director' was a good idea? Mind you, once upon a time Apple let her speak on stage and probably regretted it.

What ever possessed Blackberry (aka RIM) to think that giving Alicia Keys the role of 'Global Creative Director' was a good idea? Did someone think that the association would enhance its credibility?

Whoever had the idea, they really ought to have insisted on taking away her iPhone.

In the latest of what we expect will become a series of 'embarrassing incidents for Blackberry and Alicia Keys', she tweeted what appears to be a reference to her new position from her iPhone. Here's the tweet as sent from Twitter for iPhone. (Via Gizmodo).

Keys later claimed that her Twitter account had been hacked.

What did Blackberry expect when they signed Keys up to pretend to be a 'Creative Director' anyway? Did someone at Blackberry really think people wouldn't laugh at them?

Mind you, remembering this video from last year, perhaps someone at Blackberry thinks making the company the laughing stock is the way forward.

When Jobs showed Keys how to use a Mac

In Blackberry's defence they aren't the only company to attempt to use Alicia Keys as part of a marketing campaign. If you were at the launch of iTunes in the UK back in 2004 (I was) you'd remember that Alicia Keys joined Steve Jobs on stage at that event. It was a rather embarrassing moment for Apple when Keys admitted: "I haven't managed to get my iPod set-up yet."

Intent on giving Keys a lesson in how easy iTunes was to use, and how simply she could in fact set up her iPod, Jobs decided to use the Mac that me and my colleague at the time, Jonny Evans, were using to view the new iTunes Music store. That was the day Steve Jobs pushed me out of the way, but that's another story.